LOOP COMMUNITY
HOW PRAYER SHAPES CULTURE W / UPPERROOM | Matt McCoy
Jonathan Lewis and Oscar Gamboa joined Loop Community Founder Matt McCoy to talk about UPPERROOM’ s latest album, flowing in worship, and their prayer room that has shaped their worship culture.
THE PRAYER ROOM [ Jonathan ] Our primary emphasis is prayer. We have a prayer room in our church that is open from 6am in the morning until 8pm at night, Monday through Friday. On Saturday there is a prayer set from 10am to Noon. Our community has come around the place of prayer. There’ s about 200 people who serve in the place of prayer throughout the week. Musicians, singers, prayer leaders. It’ s a huge community itself, and there’ s a team of us that oversee it.
Our culture is built around coming to the Lord morning, noon and night. Coming in and going out. This rhythm has been so powerful for us. We look at the prayer room and what we do as nourishing a city. Not just with food, but with the presence of God. People will come in on their lunch break for 30 minutes, or quickly after work, and then they go out to their jobs and families and carry that presence of God with them.
[ Matt ] How do you have that many volunteers to help do this?
[ Jonathan ] When we first started, we kept it to three times a day, and sometimes the music was just from an iPod and someone leading prayer. But we kept being faithful with it, and consistent with it, and now it’ s grown. We have about 200 team members that serve and even more that are waiting. I’ ve never seen anything like it.
FLOWING IN WORSHIP [ Matt ] When you you’ re in the flow moments of worship, and the band wants to go off script, who is following who? How do you do it without it being a trainwreck?
[ Oscar ] A lot of our musicians are serving in our prayer room and so they’ re very used to filling in space and having two hour sets that are fluid. For a Sunday service, I’ m usually thinking during rehearsal about the moments it could happen. As an MD I try to structure the
song so that there’ s moments where I think we may do a section a couple of times. I also talk to the worship leader who may be feeling a certain part of a song that they want to do a few times. And I have the flexibility to repeat it or jump around.
With new worship leaders, I’ ll tell them to do the song how it is, but then say they have the option to flow at a chorus. And then I’ ll have them lead it, and I’ ll follow where they’ re going. Then I can communicate it in a mic to the band to help lead them.
Click here to watch the full interview!
Listen to UPPERROOM’ s new album 1350 wherever you listen to music, and get the tracks to lead the songs at your church on LoopCommunity. com.
Matt McCoy Matt is a worship leader, songwriter and Ableton Certified Trainer from Chicago, IL. He has been using Ableton and tracks in worship since 2002. He’ s passionate about creating new products and teaching worship leaders and artists how to use technology in live performance. www. LoopCommunity. com 38 June 2025 Subscribe for Free...